OTTAWA — Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver heads into his new job with enormous expectations about how he’ll sprinkle around billions of surplus dollars and balance smart economic decisions with populist politics.

The former investment banker and Bay Street veteran, named to the job Wednesday, is well-qualified for the job, well-respected by fellow cabinet ministers and, during his time in the natural resources portfolio, was already counted on as one of the government’s most important ministers in a key economic file.

But he also brings with him to Finance a reputation for inflammatory language during his time at natural resources, and a penchant for picking fights with some who disagree with the government’s economic policies.

He was a vocal advocate for the energy and mining sectors and travelled the world to defend the Conservative government’s oil and gas interests, including fending off “dirty oil” attacks against the Alberta oilsands.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said Wednesday that Oliver is an “embarrassment” as finance minister because of his controversial past comments on climate change and assailing environmental groups opposed to oil and gas development.

The 73-year-old Oliver Wednesday replaced Jim Flaherty, until now the only finance minister the Harper government has known.

In many ways, Oliver lands in the finance portfolio at an envious time: Canada has come through the worst of the economic downturn and the Conservative government expects to balance the books next year and post a $6.4-billion surplus in 2015-16.

Former finance minister Flaherty liked to joke that his staff gave him a rubber stamp that said “No” on it — and that he used it regularly.

For Oliver, however, there will be billions of dollars to spend on tax relief and other goodies leading to the 2015 federal election. But with big surpluses come big expectations from cabinet and caucus colleagues hoping for a “yes” on their spending projects.

I just named Joe Oliver Canada’s new Finance Minister. He will continue to strengthen the economy & balance the budget by 2015. #cdnpoli

Royal Bank of Canada chief economist Craig Wright noted the budget’s fiscal projections over the next five years (including the $3-billion cushion accounted for each year) will leave the federal government about $45 billion worth of fiscal breathing room.

“That’s fiscal dividend that’s available for tax cuts and debt reduction and spending initiatives,” Wright said. “It’s easier to say ‘no’ when you’re in a deficit to all requests rather than to pick who should and shouldn’t get money.”

The battle over income-splitting for families is one of the more divisive and expensive debates the Conservatives will face in the coming months. The Conservatives promised last election campaign to introduce income-splitting for couples with children under age 18 — at a cost of $2.5 billion annually — once the budget was balanced.

However, Flaherty said last month that the income-splitting policy would have virtually no benefit for many Canadians — which put him at odds with several senior ministers and even Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who called it a “good policy” for Canadian families.

Pressed recently by reporters for his opinion on the Conservatives’ income-splitting promise, Oliver said it is “one of the good policies” proposed by the government.

“I think income splitting is clearly one of the important issues that we’ll be discussing going forward,” Oliver told reporters last month, just days after the federal budget.

Beyond Flaherty’s concerns, a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a left-leaning think-tank, concluded that 86 per cent of all families would gain no benefit from the income-splitting promise. A previous study from the C.D. Howe Institute, a fiscally conservative think-tank, reached a similar conclusion.

Liberal deputy leader Ralph Goodale, a former federal finance minister in the Paul Martin government, said Wednesday a major challenge for Oliver will be staking out his own turf and preventing people from looking past him to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“He’s going to have to find a way to dig in his heels so that people don’t just run past him, around him or over him,” Goodale said in an interview.

There may be a tendency on the part of some people in the government and private sector to conclude that Oliver is a temporary custodian in the file and not treat the appointment seriously, Goodale said.

“He really has to be his own guy. He would not want to leave an impression that he’s simply an offshoot of the PMO,” Goodale said. “You do have to have the ability and willingness to say ‘no,’ including to the Prime Minister’s Office.”

Oliver, like Flaherty, has faced health issues. He was sidelined for about six weeks in early 2013 after heart bypass surgery and will be 75 years old heading into the next election campaign. Oliver has said he plans to run again.

The bilingual Oliver was born in Montreal and holds a law degree from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

He spent several years as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch, and is the former executive director of the Ontario Securities Commission. He’s also the former chief executive of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, a lobbying organization and self-regulating group for the securities industry.

Oliver was first elected to Parliament in the May 2011 federal election in the Toronto riding of Eglinton—Lawrence and was immediately appointed as natural resources minister.

Senior Parliament Hill reporter for the Ottawa Citizen, politics junkie, wannabe pro golfer and someone who has wordsmithed at newspapers in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan. I've covered politics at... read more every level, including city hall in Ottawa and Calgary, the Alberta legislature in Edmonton and now back in Ottawa covering the Hill.View author's profile